Unexpected Revenge

By Sarun

CHAPTER FOUR:

Final Decisions

Okina yawned, walking down the hall towards the kitchen to get something to eat.

As he walked, he stroked his beard, thinking. Who could have poisoned Aoshi? And for what motive? And how did Misao find an antidote for it so quickly?

Those questions had been nagging him for a while that day, but he had thought it best to put them aside, with everyone so worried about Aoshi. He would ask Misao about the antidote in the morning.

Okina searched in the kitchen, hoping to find some pastries. As he passed the kitchen counter, a piece of paper caught his eye. He picked it up.

What the… it was a letter from Misao! Feeling this could mean nothing good, Okina opened it. He read through it, and dropped it to the floor with a yell.

Within moments, Omasu, Ochika, Kuro and Shiro arrived. "What is it? We heard you yell."

Okina, struck speechless, handed them the letter from Misao and sank to his knees, pale.

Aoshi grunted as he awoke. His head still felt slightly dizzy, and there was a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. He sank back into the pillow; eyes closed, and reached out his arm to pull Misao closer.

His hand only found empty sheets. His eyes flew open, and saw that Misao was gone.

Aoshi pushed the covers aside, searching for his robe, and found it folded neatly by the side of the futon.

He dressed quickly and headed towards the kitchen. He found everyone in there, all looking panic-stricken.

"Aoshi, you should be resting…" someone started

"What's going on? Where's Misao?" he demanded.

Omasu held out the letter with a trembling hand.

Misao ran through the woods. It wasn't far now, just about a few more minutes until she reached the cliffs.

She tried to think as she ran. How could the fight with Yone end without someone getting really hurt? Yone would try to kill her; there was no doubt about that.

Rage filled her as she remembered that Aoshi had nearly died. She curled her hands into fists at her sides. Yone won't get away with poisoning Aoshi…

Yone turned around at the sound of footsteps approaching, in time to see Misao emerge from the forest.

"So. There you are. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up."

Misao didn't answer. She simply stood with her arms crossed. "You won't get away with what you did to Aoshi."

Smirking as she stood up from the rocks, Yone walked towards the middle of the clearing. Misao stood opposite her.

Yone drew her sword from her back. The sword's edge glinted in the moonlight, letting off an eerie glow. "Recognize this, Misao? You've fought against this before."

Misao recognized the sword instantly and nodded. "Tsuna's." Yone gritted her teeth. "That's right. Now, you will die by it!"

Yone lunged forward quickly, Misao jumped to the side. Yone, however, had been expecting it, and slashed to the side, cutting Misao at the shoulder.

Misao fell to her knees and pressed her hand against the cut. Luckily, it was shallow.

"You're not as tough as I expected! Why don't you just give up now and save yourself all the pain?" Yone sneered.

"You're not through with me yet!" Misao snapped back. She had let Yone hit her on purpose.

Yone's grin disappeared, and with unexpected speed she darted at Misao again. Misao remained on her knees, waiting…

As Yone lifted the sword to strike, Misao grabbed Yone's arm from underneath and jabbed a kunai she had hidden in her hand into Yone's forearm.

Yone cried out and loosened her grip. It was what Misao had been waiting for. Misao grabbed Yone's wrist and twisted it, making the sword fly out of her hand, landing several feet away.

Yone instead drew several shuriken from her sleeve and threw them at Misao, who jumped out of the way. Rushing forward, she aimed a punch at Misao, who blocked it, responding with one of her own.

It was what Yone had waited for. The punch left Misao wide open for attack. She threw an uppercut punch at Misao.

Misao pulled her face away, but felt a stinging pain under her chin. Glancing at Yone's hand, she saw she had a shuriken in her fist. Misao slapped a hand to her jaw. Sure enough, there was a long bleeding gash.

With Misao distracted by her injury, Yone made a dash for her sword. Picking it up, she prepared herself to attack once again.

Sensing Yone approach at the last moment, Misao ducked out of the way, but not fast enough to avoid the blade. The sword's edge scraped her forehead, leaving a bloody cut near her eye.

"We all have to split up and search for Misao!" Okina commanded everyone. They all ran off in different directions to search the city.

Aoshi remained where he was. He searched the ground for some sort of tracks. Misao had used her ninja skills well, there were no tracks around. Still, there had to be something…

A half dried mud patch caught his eye. Walking over towards it, Aoshi found a single footprint. It pointed northwest.

His mind raced. Of course…they wouldn't fight in the city. What's to the northwest…?

His heart skipped a beat when he remembered.

Misao kicked at Yone, which hit her directly in the stomach, knocking the air out of her and sent her falling over.

Yone fell to the ground hard, dropping her sword and lay facedown, not moving. Her right eye partly blinded by blood from her forehead cut, Misao moved over to Yone. Did she get knocked out?

Yone felt Misao moving closer, but remained still. She moved her hand to her belt, and grasped the handle of her dagger.

She put a hand to Yone's shoulder and turned her over. In a flash, Yone grabbed Misao's braid and yanked her into close range, at the same time pulling out her dagger and stabbing her in the side.

Misao cried out and stumbled backwards. She braced herself against a tree, her hand on her side. She glanced down at it. The wound was a long deep slash right under her ribcage; blood spilled out between her fingers like water. The pain was blinding.

Yone strode over to her, the blood-covered dagger in her hand. Misao saw her raise her arm to strike just in time. She ducked out under Yone's arm and tried to stay standing.

Yone turned and grabbed her dagger by the blade and threw it at Misao. Her reflexes slowed by the pain in her side, the dagger landed in her upper arm. Misao cried out, falling to one knee in pain.

Yone took advantage of the momentary weakness and launched a running kick in her direction.

Misao had just pulled the dagger out of her arm, and looked up in time to see Yone running at her before the kick caught her in the chest and sent her falling over the cliffside.

Yone laughed, running to the edge to see Misao fall…there was nothing, no splash in the river. Yone froze. What the…!

Misao clung onto a protruding stone on the cliffside. She looked up and saw Yone lean over the cliff, obviously looking for her.

Misao grabbed onto Yone's ankle with both hands. Yone lost her balance, and both of them fell into the river far below.

As she fell, Misao braced herself for the landing. She swallowed a mouthful of water as she felt the cold shock of the water. The current was pulling at her; it was too dark to see anything.

She splashed, trying to stay at the surface of the water. Suddenly, a pair of hands seized her from behind and pushed her under the surface.

Yone had grabbed her arms from behind, trying to drown her. She had managed to trap Misao's head underwater; Misao fought against Yone's grip, but it was no use…

Misao felt herself slowly grow weaker, tired, almost. She could feel the sharp contrast of the icy cold water of the river and the warm blood from her injuries flowing past her.

She was only dimly aware of the water in her mouth; was it just her or was the water getting darker…?

As her eyes closed, the sound of a familiar voice floated through the darkness, calling her. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw nothing.

Still unable to free herself, she closed her eyes once more. Then, a faint voice well engraved in her memory broke through the numbing cold.

"Misao …"

Aoshi?

She couldn't see him, but in her mind she heard him clearly.

"You promise?" Aoshi whispered.

"Yes…" she gasped back

…I won't leave you…Aoshi…I promise…Everything's alright…I promise…

Her eyes flew open; the water became clear again. She wasn't going to die here, not like this!

Misao elbowed Yone in the stomach with all her strength. Yone released Misao's arms, and Misao splashed to the surface, gasping.

Seizing one of her kunai, she grabbed Yone around the neck from behind, and cut across her face. Yone screamed, holding a hand to the bleeding cut across her face.

Misao then grasped a large nearby rock and held on, breathing hard. The pain in her side was worsening.

Gritting her teeth, she managed to pull herself onshore. She got to her feet, looking around for Yone.

Yone had also managed to crawl ashore. She was down on all fours, breathing heavily, the slash on her face still bleeding, trying to get to her feet.

Before Misao could understand what she was doing, she was racing towards Yone, fists raised.

She caught Yone violently by the neck, and threw her to the ground. Misao began punching Yone in the face repeatedly, unable to stop herself.

Yone tried to fight back, but couldn't move to defend herself, as her arms were pinned to the ground.

"How-dare-you-hurt-Aoshi!" Misao yelled each word out with anger each time her fist hit.

Stop! Stop it! You'll kill her if you keep hitting her like that! Her senses reverberated within her mind, but it seemed as if her fist had a mind of its own.

Before she knew it, Misao was holding a kunai in her hand. She glanced for an instant at its sharp edge. It could do the job just fine…gripping Yone's hair; she forced her head back and held the sharp kunai to Yone's throat.

There was a moment where the looked each other straight in the eyes; Yone's light brown eyes wide and fearful-Misao's greenish-blue eyes narrowed and shining with anger.

Misao pressed the cold metal of the kunai to Yone's neck. One quick move across her throat, and it would all be over.

Inexplicably, her hand froze. Her gut instinct was screaming at her not to do it. Misao hesitated, still holding the kunai steady.

A second urge was fighting the first now. Do it! Let her get what she deserves. Remember what she did to Aoshi!

Then you're no different from her! Came the retort. You'll let her die to avenge what she did to Aoshi, just how she wants you to die for what you did to Tsuna!

Misao realized that was truth with a start. What she had felt when Aoshi had been near dying…Yone must have gone through something much worse after Tsuna died.

She hadn't intended Tsuna to die, and Yone hadn't intended for Aoshi to die, that's why she had given Misao the antidote for him. Misao had come out here because she wanted to make Yone pay for what she had done to Aoshi…

The kunai fell limply from her hand as she let go of Yone and fell to her knees.

Holding a hand to her neck, Yone sat up. She took her hand away from her throat, as if to check for blood. When she saw there was none, she looked over at Misao angrily.

"Why-why the hell did you do that?" she yelled

Misao looked back at her. "Do what?"

"You-you-didn't kill me…Why did you stop? You could have put an end to this and won!"

Misao took a deep breath before answering, gritting her teeth against the throbbing pain in her side. "Because I realized something."

"What do you mean?"

"That if I did kill you, I would be doing the same thing you're doing. I realized how you must have felt when-when Tsuna died. I felt the same when Aoshi nearly died. And I did want revenge for what you did to him. But I realized how wrong it was. Aoshi didn't die, you didn't mean him to. But I did cause your bother's death, accident or not. You have the right to hate me."

When Yone didn't answer, Misao continued. "Would your brother want you to do this?"

Yone stared at her numbly at her for a few more seconds, and then jumped to her feet. "I don't care! I came here to avenge my brother, and I intend to do that!"

She darted at Misao, who remained where she was. Yone's fist hit Misao right in the stomach, knocking her over.

Misao spat out a mouthful of blood, and fell to the ground. Yone gripped Misao by the hair and yanked her to her feet.

She hit Misao repeatedly and threw her to the ground. Misao was still conscious, but remained still.

Yone stood there, gasping for breath. Why didn't Misao fight back? She kicked Misao in the ribs, causing her to spit up more blood. "Get up! Fight back!"

Misao lifted her head a few inches from the ground slowly and looked Yone in the eye, blood running down her forehead and her breath coming in short gasps. "I said I wasn't going to fight you anymore. I've suffered guilt over your brother for a long time, and I don't want to do it again. I wouldn't mind dying that much now that I understand."

Misao continued. "You never meant for Aoshi to die. And I owe that to you."

Aoshi raced through the woods, hoping he wasn't too late. It was nearly half past twelve, and that was a long time in a fighting terms.

He came upon a clearing, where he caught the smell of blood. He walked to the center of the clearing.

There were blood stains all over the ground, as well as several footprints of what was unmistakably a fight.

Heart pounding, Aoshi followed the tracks with his eyes. The led to a large tree, where a sword was stuck in it, and then to another tree where there was a large bloodstain on the ground, and finally…Aoshi gasped…off the edge of the cliff itself.

Aoshi glanced over the edge of the cliff, but it was too dark to see anything. There were no footprints leading away from the cliff, and that only meant…that both of them must have fallen…

No...Misao...

Yone let out a fierce yell and kicked Misao to the ground once more. "You're lying! You-you"

Misao kept her gaze firm. "Kill me if you want to, Yone. I won't stop you. The only thing I'll regret is not being able to see Aoshi and all my friends again."

Without blinking, Yone picked up Misao's kunai from the ground. She pinned Misao down, and with one hand turned her head sideways.

Misao shut her eyes. Not realizing she was speaking aloud, she whispered: "Forgive me…Aoshi…Jiya…Himura…everyone…I'm sorry…"

Holding the kunai's point to the artery in Misao's neck, she took a deep breath. This was it – at last…

…Would your brother want you to do this…?

Yone tried to block out the sound of those words. She already knew Misao had spoken the truth.

In fact, she had known from the start that Tsuna would have been disappointed at her for doing what she was doing.

He had always tried to give her a peaceful life, keep her from copying his lifestyle. That night he had made her promise…it seemed so long ago now…

Yone and Tsuna sat together by the riverbank, gazing at the stars shimmering in the night sky. Tsuna took a deep breath before speaking. "Don't end up like me, little sister."

Tsuna glanced down at her sitting beside him. She looked back up at him, chewing on an apple. "I'm not too proud of what I do. I'd never want you to have to live like me."

He looked back at the stars. "Promise me something. If something ever happened to me, I know you would try and avenge me. And I know I couldn't stop you. But promise me this. If I die in fair combat, don't bloody your hands for me. In a proper fight, death is no one's fault."

Yone nodded, grinning. "No one will ever hurt you... You're the best there is!"

Tsuna let out a small chuckle and patted her briefly on the head. "I hope you're right."

She had broken that promise. The night he died, she had become so angry – she had – killed – but why…? Yone dropped the kunai, her hand shaking both in fear and rage.

Misao felt the cold metal of the kunai fall away from her throat. She opened her eyes slightly. Was this a trick? Yone's face was pale, and she made a slight chocking noise in her throat.

Suddenly, Yone jumped up and ran, letting out a chilling scream. Misao got to her feet and chased after Yone – there was no telling what she was going to do.

Misao kept stumbling, keeping a hand on the wound on her side. It felt as though it was draining her strength steadily now, not to mention her vision was already beginning to blur.

Yone held the speed advantage; Misao could only follow the faint tracks in the ground. Finally, Misao emerged from the forest area, where a cliff gave end to a waterfall.

Yone was standing on a large rock out in the river, barely a few feet from the waterfall's edge.

When Misao stumbled onto the riverbank from the forest, Yone appeared not to notice. She kept her gaze on the stars shimmering lightly above.

"What the hell are you doing?" Misao's yell rang through the clearing. Yone moved her gaze first to the bottom of the waterfall, then to Misao.

"You were right, Misao. I should have done this a long time ago, before I made a fool out of myself."

Yone flashed a quick smile at her. "You're lucky to have someone like Aoshi. I wish I still did."

At that moment, Yone turned back towards the waterfall. "Don't worry about this. I chose this myself."

Misao realized what Yone was planning to do about a second before it happened – she opened her mouth to yell at her to stop, but no sound came out.

Yone took a slow step forward, and in a moment disappeared over the side of the waterfall.

Misao stood, watching the spot where Yone had disappeared. A faint breeze blew past her.

Her feet gave out without her realizing it. Only when her head collided with the wet earth did she realize she had fallen.

She didn't want to move. Her mind had gone blissfully blank as she stared up into the night sky. To move would make her mind process what had just happened, to accept it.

As the pressing darkness pulled against her eyes like a weightless veil, Misao slipped in and out of consciousness.

She pressed her hand to her face, trying to clear her hurt eye. She pulled her hand away, and saw it glisten in the faint moonlight. Whether it was blood or tears, she didn't know.

"Misao…you stupid girl" she muttered to herself, finally succumbing to the overwhelming exhaustion.

Author's Note:

This has certainly turned out interesting. What I intended to be a 3-chapter fic has stretched all this way. The next chapter should be the last. This is my first fanfic (though not last) and I intend to make it memorable.